Friday Faves - What We're Reading This Week - Ripple Effect Group

In Friday Faves for 28 June 2019, we have reads on what gaming and virtual currency have to do with business; parents’ financial information stolen from a high school; what you wanted to know about biohacking but were afraid to ask; Facebook’s Libra; and the week in social media.

What does video gaming and a virtual currency have to do with running a business?

Helen says: Earlier in the year, I wrote about the positive impact the game Fortnite was having at software start-up company, Podium. This week, I am revisiting the theme of gaming in the workplace – but this time the impact does not come from playing an online video game. In this case, the CEO of Disco Corporation encouraged a staffer to look at gaming to come up with a program for the company that would make work fun and at the same time help improve the company’s bottom line.

The most important element…borrowed from the gamer world was the idea of scoring everything in the same way games reward high scores, to re-create the spirit of fun and competition.

A program called Personal Will was born and a virtual currency called ‘will’ created for employees to use to pay for everything from using meeting rooms, office desks and PC’s, colleague’s advice or services, daily auctions for work assignments or participating in competitions to pitch ideas. Balances get paid out in yen as bonuses at the end of each quarter and the company boasts an average wage twice that of the national average.

The results have been outstanding for the company but I am not so sure the fun element has been achieved! Since implementing the program, their operating margin has increased by 10% and their share price has quadrupled. Non-productive meetings have all but disappeared and there are even penalties for being inefficient – working overtime falls into this category and Disco’s overtime has reduced by 9%. So why aren’t more companies following suit? The company has had some cultural challenges with lower adoption in the US and China compared to Japan but there are other criticisms of this ‘next level’ performance measurement – such as the focus on profits leading to short term thinking and the relentless pressure to perform for bonuses that are not guaranteed.

Thankfully, I can’t see this taking off in Australia anytime soon! How would you feel about having to ‘pay’ out of any potential bonus to use office resources or ask for advice in your workplace? Let me know in the comments or on social media.

Joel says: Not too long ago I wrote a piece for our Friday Faves about the potential of our personal information being stolen from hospitals, after a security audit determined that the industry was not proactive enough in educating staff of all levels about cyber-security awareness.

Now, this week I have read a piece that backs up the claim of that original article which stated that protecting sensitive information shouldn’t just be the task of IT staff. Most times when you hear about hacking attempts or data leaks in the news it’s often large, well-known companies or websites that are attacked, with Apple, Facebook, banks and various government departments often the targets. But in the highly digital age we live in, hackers are now commonly targeting smaller organisations that may not have the same level of security measures in place or have staff that aren’t cyber-secure and are more likely to accidentally provide unauthorised access after being unable to identify a phishing attempt.

That was the case earlier this month at Nagle Catholic College, where after a staff member clicked a link in an email sent to the college a hacker gained access to financial information of parents that send their children to the school and paid their fees via email.

The school’s principal was proactive in notifying the parents but due to the large amount of data stolen they are still determining how bad the situation may be. They are also now working with cyber-security experts to raise awareness and to “mitigate and address the potential breach”.

When was the last time you spoke to your employees about cybersecurity and awareness? If it was a while ago, perhaps it’s time to offer them a refresher.

How biohackers are trying to upgrade their brains, their bodies — and human nature

Jakkii says: We’ve shared articles on biohacking in our Friday Faves before, from implanting an Opal card to new takes on medical devices. If you’re still curious about biohacking and what it is, Vox is here with an article that promises to deliver answers to “9 questions about biohacking you were too embarrassed to ask”:

First of all, what exactly is biohacking? What are some common examples of it?

Why are people doing this? What drives someone to biohack themselves?

How different is biohacking from traditional medicine? What makes something “count” as a biohacking pursuit?

How much of this is backed by scientific research?

What are the most dangerous types of biohacking being tried?

Are all these biohacking pursuits legal?

What are the physical limits of life extension?

Biohackers also include people who engage in DIY science without experimenting on themselves. What’s that form of biohacking like?

At its most extreme, biohacking can fundamentally alter human nature. Should we be worried?

It’s a fascinating read, littered with links and examples that explain and illustrate the kaleidoscope of experimentation that is biohacking. The question and answer format makes it easy to follow and digest despite being quite a long read. I’d love to hear your thoughts on biohacking – generally, or on any specific examples! Let me know in the comments or on social media.